Alone, But Together Again
by ginevra85
Summary: Before OotP, Sirius and Remus have a nice evening with their friends in Grimmauld Place. And finally find peace...


A.N. This is an old story. Before I wrote for Narnia and Bleach, there was Harry Potter. I still do, but this one is quite old as I said. I hope you'll enjoy it. Sirius and Remus are such tragic heroes...

The Order of the Phoenix, and families, were seated at the kitchen table of #12 Grimmauld Place, waiting for Molly Weasley and Tonks to be done with the dishes, to enjoy a cup of tea all together before it was time to go to bed.

Fred and George, as usual, were doing their best to keep everyone entertained. Sirius Black was particularly amused by their antics, as Remus Lupin was happy to see. He didn't hear his friend laugh this much since…

'Don't go there mate!' He told himself with a frown. Remus knew Sirius hated being forced to stay here, in his parents' house. It brought about bad memories, memories Remus himself had had to work on for years, in order to help Sirius forget, not without grief, too. Now they were all back. Remus often woke up to Sirius whimpering and crying in his sleep, in the bed next to his. They'd been sleeping in the same room, like when they were children, since they came back to this cursed place. Sirius claimed he didn't want to sleep alone in his old room and Remus had to admit to himself he felt better where he could keep an eye on his friend, or on the sad shell of his former self said friend had become. So they settled in one of the guest rooms, there were plenty of those, and it wasn't rare for Remus to wake up and find a black unkempt dog curled around his feet, trembling. During those nights, he would lift the corner of his blanket and invite the dog in. they would fall asleep like that, with Remus' hand buried in Sirius' mane, not unlike all those years before, after a full moon…

'Oi, Moony! What's with the long face?' Remus was brought abruptly back to reality by Sirius' voice. It took him a moment to register the words and his eyes widened. Sirius hadn't called him Moony in ages, not even once since their reunion. It was the sign he was waiting to know that Sirius had finally forgiven him. He was now looking at Remus with a curious look in his grey eyes, as if asking for the same forgiveness, a bit uncertainly though. Remus couldn't help but chuckle, maybe a bit wetly.

'Everything is perfectly alright now… Padfoot.' Remus said in a gentle voice. He thought Sirius' smile would split his face in two, and he was going to hug his friend, returned to him at last, when he was interrupted by two identical voices, yelling,

'Wait a second there!'

Remus and Sirius turned to face the twins, who had just caught the attention of everyone in the room. Remus noticed everybody looked curious. Everybody, that is, but Ron, Hermione and Ginny, who looked particularly amused.

'You mean to tell us-' Started Fred, or George.

'-that you two are Padfoot-'

'-and Moony? Two of the legendary-'

'-Marauders? You're serious?'

Sirius opened his mouth,

'Well…' He started with a grin.

'You wouldn't dare!' Remus admonished, but his eyes were twinkling. Sirius laughed and shrugged. One of the twins grabbed the werewolf's arm and forced him on the couch next to Sirius. Then they fell on their knees in front of them.

'You're our idols!!' They said as one, 'We owe you everything we are!'

Sirius started laughing again and Remus looked sheepish,

'Don't say things like that in front of your mother, please. We'd like to keep our limbs, thank you very much.'

Sirius elbowed him in his ribs.

'Come on, Remus! What's life without a bit of danger?' There was such mischief in his voice that Remus felt his heart swell with tenderness for this boy who had to grow too fast, alone, miserable. Remus gripped Sirius' shoulder and their eyes met. In that second they really became Moony and Padfoot all over again, brothers, soulmates, alone but finally together. When they turned to look at the rest of the room again, they saw the young ones still looking at them: Hermione and Ginny's eyes were teary and soft, while Ron looked as if he felt an intruder in their unplanned reconnection. Fred and George, though, had an expression on their faces dreadfully akin to worship. Sirius howled with laughter, Remus groaned - they were doomed.

When, eventually, the time came to go to bed, Molly had to physically force the two boys away from the men, so that they could go rest for the night. When they went into their room, Remus noticed Sirius was frowning.

'You OK, Pads?' Sirius smiled at his maimed nickname. Moony always shortened people's names – he was usually Siri, Pad or Pads, whereas James and Lily were often just Jim and Lils. Sirius noticed he had started doing it with their new friends too, so they now had Gin, Herm, or Mione, and sometimes even Dora. Once he even called McGonagall "Minnie". _He_ didn't even seem to notice, she blushed and could say nothing, but Sirius and Dumbledore couldn't look at each other for a week without laughing.

'I'm OK, _Moons_!' He said chuckling, 'I was only wondering where the twins found the map. I can't seem to remember where we left it.'

'Filch's office.' He smirked, 'They found it in their first year. Filch confiscated our most precious item and he never even knew. We left it there on purpose. Now Harry has it.' Sirius nodded and laughed again,

'I do remember now. Quite a brilliant plan- if I say so myself.'

'Today you're quite… What's the word? Ah, yes, "pleasant". To put it mildly. I haven't heard you laugh so much in ages.'

'I am, aren't I? I am just happy, you know. Today was a good day, you stayed here and didn't have to go out on a mission, the twins were the funniest thing ever, this morning I had quite the pleasant chat with Ginny and Harry will be here soon. So…' He left the sentence there and Remus felt a pang in his heart at the longing in Sirius' voice. He knew how much Sirius really missed Harry.

'And don't forget the best part, Pads!' He joked, 'No Snivellus today!' Sirius grinned from ear to ear.

'That's always a plus. Let's get some sleep, Moony.'

Sirius took off his clothes and was almost on his bed, when he saw them: scars. Not that he had never seen any on his friend's body – they came with the territory. On the contrary, he had patched up and healed a lot of the old signs on Remus' back on his own. But these… These were new, these were angry, these spoke of lonely nights and small dungeons, and despair…

'Moony…' Sirius breathed, and walked towards him. Remus froze. 'What happened to you?'

Remus swore, silently, and slowly turned to watch Sirius' face. His friend's breath caught in his throat again.

'Moony…' He touched tentatively a deep gash on Remus' collarbone. He sighed, there was such heartache in Sirius' voice, such desolation in his eyes, that Remus felt the urge to hug him, for the second time that night. Sirius hid his face in the curve between Remus' shoulder and neck, his tears dampening the warm skin.

'Let's just say,' Said Remus in a low voice, his hand stroking Sirius' still too long hair, 'I haven't been really enjoying myself lately. Neither has Moony.' He added in a self-deprecating tone. He felt Sirius shudder and heard him mumble something. He had to listen very carefully to hear what he was saying. Sirius was repeating incessantly 'I'm sorry'. Remus' heart tightened in his chest. He grabbed his friend's shoulders and forced him to meet his eyes.

'Look at me Padfoot! It is _not_ your fault. Any of it! Not even one of this scars is your fault.' He knew he was probably lying, at least some of them had to be, even if not directly, but he didn't plan to tell Sirius. Who was apparently going to argue. Remus stopped him short,

'Are those tattoos my fault, then?' Sirius' eyes opened wide,

'No!' Remus smiled,

'Then why should my scars be yours?' Sirius sighed, defeated. Remus led Sirius to his bed. 'Come on, Pads, get some sleep.'

He went to his own bed. He had jus switched the light off, when he heard Sirius calling,

'Moony?'

'Yes, Padfoot?'

'Where are you going to be next full moon?' Remus sighed,

'Don't know yet.' He said with a yawn. Sirius hesitated,

'Grimmauld has a very spacious dungeon, you know?' Remus chuckled,

'Really?'

'Really. Would you like some company too?' Sirius seemed almost shy.

'Moony would love to have Padfoot with him again. I would, too.' He could almost feel Sirius' smile in the darkness.

'Good night, Moons.'

'Night, Siri.'

In the morning, Remus woke up with a shaggy black dog next to him, asleep with its head on his chest. Remus smiled, rubbing behind an ear and let himself fall asleep again. All would be well…


End file.
